UP polls: Mulayam Singh Yadav against Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, refuses to campaign

Delhi: Expressing his displeasure over the pre-poll alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav said Sunday that SP was capable enough to contest and win the upcoming Assembly elections alone in Uttar Pradesh.

"Our party has the capability to contest this election without any support. I am confident that it would have marked victory had it contested alone," he said.

"I am against the alliance formed between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. I will never acknowledge this alliance. The Congress was in power for so long, but it did not do anything for the development of the country. I will not campaign in this election," Mulayam further told ANI.

"The alliance has squandered the chances of many of our leaders for the next five years by not allotting tickets to them. I will request the party cadres to speak against the alliance and take it to the people," he added. 

On the other hand, walking shoulder to shoulder and almost identically dressed, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister  Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today addressed their first joint press conference and held a roadshow in Lucknow, giving a call for crushing BJP's politics of "anger and divisiveness".

Reflecting camaraderie and personal bonding, the scions of Congress and SP showcased themselves as the two wheels of a bicycle.

43-year-old Akhilesh said, "There is not much difference in age between us and today is the beginning." Rahul is 46.

"Rahul and I will take the state ahead on the path of prosperity," he said at the hour-long press conference.

"The alliance is the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna out of which the Saraswati of development will come out... We have similarities and differences too. We want to contest the elections on similarities and will also have to do some compromises...," Rahul said, adding, "It is an alliance of heart, we will win together," as per PTI.

The two young leaders also focussed on the fact they "are friends and not just political allies", and that the two parties "share much of each other's ideologies" and goals.

At one point Rahul even called Akhilesh "a good boy", which the latter took sportingly, with a grin.

It was flowers, rose petals and garlands all the way for Rahul and Akhilesh who later held a 12-km-long road show where the newfound bonhomie between the Congress and the SP was on display.

Boosting the morale of their supporters and signalling unity, the two leaders atop the 'UP Vijay Rath' started the road show from the GPO park in Hazratganj after garlanding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

The especially designed Rath had pictures of Rahul and Akhilesh, and the alliance's catch line 'UP ko yeh saath pasand hai'.

(With Agency inputs)